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2/21/2009

Since my fellow goal-maker Tara is soon to be off on vacation attending a Bon Jovi concert and engaging in general drunken revelry, I'm doing the goal thing on my own this week. This goal is simple and succinct: Virgin Territory will be finished by the next time Tara and I meet for critique on March 6th. End of story.

I hope. ;)

Now for the fun stuff. I figured since I'm not published yet, it was time to put a little of my work out there for the masses. Or the few people who visit this blog. Whichever. *g* Enjoy!

Quick disclaimer: the below scene is a HOT, OVER 18 excerpt from the very first draft of my much maligned, soon to be complete Blaze in training, Virgin Territory. I always loved this scene, but it ended up on the cutting room floor during revisions (with most of the first - and second - draft, LOL.)

Vincent awoke in stages, content to float in that netherworld between consciousness and sleep while Kiki’s hands roused him as gently as a warm bath. With each breath, he inhaled her scent, with each taste, he longed for more.

Turning into her, he coaxed her tongue into his mouth, swallowing her moan as he slid his right hand under her sweater. Her skin was flame-hot, but her mouth burned hotter as it blazed a trail down his throat. Murmuring his approval as her lips moved over his torso, he arched into her seeking touch when she slid down his boxers.

This time, he was the one who moaned, and what he moaned was her name.

Kiki, not Katherine.

She took him into her mouth, but when his hips rose off the mattress, the involuntary movement sent his shoulder into an agonizing spasm. “Jesus,” he gasped, his eyes flying open.

In an instant, Kiki was beside him. “Sorry. God, I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t you. Well, it was, but not…” He rolled onto his back, flexing and releasing his good hand as he counted to ten. “I’m okay,” he managed, feeling the mattress shift under her weight as she got up. “Just give me thirty seconds.”

He heard her derisive snort, then she was back again, supporting his weight with the arm she curved around his back while she carefully urged him up. “Drink this,” she instructed, tipping back the glass she held to his lips.

He drank, not because he was thirsty, but because he sensed she needed to do something. “I should’ve let you sleep.”

Vincent pushed the glass away. “Hell, no, you shouldn’t have.”

“Do you want your pills?”

“No.” He skimmed his thumb over her cheekbone, shifting his head so he could see her eyes in the shadowy moonlight. They were shaken and huge, and absolutely beautiful. “I want you.”

“Vincent-”

“Don’t Vincent me,” he murmured, setting the glass on the nightstand before awkwardly drawing her back down. “You can’t leave me now, not when I’m in pain. You’re not that cruel.”

Kiki made a face, but she was smiling when his mouth found hers again. He could tell she was holding back, so he stroked her breast through her sweater, determined to make that impossible. “No,” she whispered, darting out of his reach. “Not like this.”

Incapable of holding himself up on his good arm a second longer, Vincent flopped onto the mattress. “Not like what?” he asked wearily.

“If we’re going to play, we’ll play my way,” she told him, rubbing her palm against his stomach as she flicked her tongue over his nipple. “You can’t move. No matter what I do or how it feels, you have to lie still.”

It already felt damn good. “You drive a hard bargain, Wyatt,” he mumbled, shutting his eyes in the hopes of delaying his own excitement. Looking at her while she was bent over him like that, her mouth sending electric shocks zipping along his skin…

“Speaking of hard,” she said, amusement tingeing her words as she scraped her nails just above the waistband of his boxers. Her mouth moved lower, then lower still, until she was running her tongue down the length of him while he recited the twelve times table in his head to keep from grabbing hold of her hair.

“You’re developing more control. I’m impressed,” she said silkily, her breath caressing his shaft through the wet streak she’d left on the material still between them.

He opened his eyes when she freed him from his boxers, needing to watch as she used her mouth on him. “Twelve times twelve. It’s 144. I think. Maybe not. Don’t stop.”

“I’m not going to. But you have to keep your promise.”

He’d promised nothing, but he had no desire to have another spasm ruin this moment. Even without his glasses, he could fill in the dots as she licked his cock like he was her favorite flavor of ice cream on a hot summer day, and the sight ranked right up there as one of the most luscious he’d ever witnessed.

His skin dampened with perspiration as she sucked him deeper, and he released a shaky breath as his arousal reached a fever pitch. He hated to end this, hated to leave the yielding glove of her mouth. “Kiki, now you do have to stop,” he whispered.

She shook her head, milking him with her lips and tongue until his muscles burned with frantic expectation. His right hand fisted at his side, but he knew there wasn’t a timestable he could think of to keep him from responding to the erotic demand she’d issued without saying a word.

“I’m going to come,” Vincent warned, sure she’d ease back. But she didn’t, continuing even when he thrust into her mouth and let out a long groan as his orgasm rocked his body.

He didn’t move for several minutes, just gulped air into his quaking lungs. He knew he should say something – thank you sprung immediately to mind – but decided he should keep his trap shut until he came up with something more appropriate.

Only problem was, the exhaustion he’d been fighting since yesterday had grown teeth. Damnit, not now, he ordered himself, urgently trying to focus. But to his cloudy, disjointed mind, Kiki crawling up his body seemed far away, like it was happening to someone else.

A heartbeat later, he was asleep.

#

Kiki stared at him, sure he was only enjoying the afterglow of what had clearly been a very satisfying climax. She was shaking, too, just as he’d been until a few seconds ago, and the ache between her legs was now a throb. She didn’t expect a full bout of sex, but she expected…

Something. Quick.

But when he started to snore, she realized the only something she was going to get was what she’d give herself.

2/15/2009

- Complete critique for one of my CPs (done)- VT query and synopsis finished and winging their way to Toronto (not yet)

Bonus goals: - Write/revise another 20 pgs VT (7 finished so far)- More email organizing (need to do this desperately...)

Today, I sent off my critique to one of my CPs and wrote another 7 pages of VT. I'm almost to the point where I can paste in some pages I wrote last week...my middle was a bit too saggy, so I've been doing some creative C&Ping. Story of my life. Tomorrow, it's synopsis time, baby!

2/12/2009

I haven't done anything writing-related yet today, but I will be spending some time tweaking VT and working on my CP's critique once I post this. My evening was shanghaied (if that's even a word, LOL) by an emergency trip to deliver a sippy cup to my best friend who was babysitting her niece and nephew. Kids are cute, man, but are they ever work! And I whine that writing's tough... ;)

From now on, I think I'll do my regular nightly update in my Twitter sidebar. Usually my progress comments are short and sweet, and this way I'll still be accountable without wasting valuable blog space. I'll still post my weekly goal recap and the next week's goals on Friday. I'll also do a longer post a couple times a week with my updates, especially if I have something noteworthy to say. Like, umm, if I get a publishing contract. ;) Now THAT would be worth some blog real estate, but it requires me to actually submit. Tomorrow and Saturday I'll be working on the synop and query for VT, so I expect to be posting a good progress report on how that's going soon.

2/11/2009

Nine pages written so far today on VT...woot! Too bad I didn't count writing as one of this week's goals, but hey, it never hurts. Tomorrow's agenda includes completing my CPs critique, and maybe a little synopsis work. Getting some sleep continues to be an ongoing goal, too. ;)

2/09/2009

Writing, I've missed you so! I'm getting excited again. Excited to see the end of the tunnel with VT. Excited to be making Insatiable, Blaze #2, better. Excited that my paranormal trilogy (or at least I think it will be a trilogy at this point) is up next on my plate, and I'm pretty sure some of my ideas are breaking new ground. Or breaking old ground in a way I've never seen before, anyway. ;)

Today, I turned the internet off for two hours while I wrote/revised more of VT. Wrote 3 pages of a new scene, and revised another. A good day's work, I think, considering I got all of four hours sleep last night.

And...in other big news, while searching for more pix of Henri, I discovered his 31st birthday is tomorrow. So I'm celebrating by posting a couple different photos of him (one of which I think is from a few years ago.) Enjoy! :)

Tara and I have switched our weekly critique night to Fridays, so this week we have less time to work on our goals. A tighter deadline, if you will. ;)

This week's goals:

- Virgin Territory synopsis and query completed and polished, in preparation for being sent to Toronto next weekend NO EXCUSES- To complete a critique for one of my CPs- And in the grand tradition of stealing Tara's ideas, LOL, to turn off the internet for two hours a day to either write or read for pleasure

2/06/2009

More organizing today...all those old emails aren't going down without a fight! Also spent some time reviewing an insightful critique from one of my amazing CP's, which triggered yet another Q&A session. With myself. ;) Anyone who knows me knows I circle around to this particular question every few months, and maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to realize the question doesn't go away because the answer hasn't changed.

I've spent the last, hmmm...roughly two years targeting Harlequin. I've only submitted once, but I've completed, more or less, three different projects. Because I'm stubborn, I was determined that nothing would get in the way of me being published by them. Not the fact that I rarely read the line(s) I've targeted. Not the fact that "guidelines," in general, make me itchy, and despite their assertions to the contrary, Harlequin has lots of them. Especially not the fact that if I'm honest about whether I'm writing what I most like to read, the answer is no.

That's the biggie, right there.

The two Blazes I've finished (or will be finished with in the next few weeks - VT, I'm talking about you!) are, hopefully, fun, sexy, romantic stories. I love the characters in both books. I'm proud of them, and I truly hope they find homes at a publisher. But I'm beginning to think that if those stories finding a home at Blaze means more rewrites, more re-structuring of my voice and my characters, that I'm throwing good money after bad.

Yes, I'm mixing metaphors, but I'm tired. ;)

I'm ready to work on new material, and to start sending those two stories on submission. I'm ready to start earning my rejection slips like any author worth their pencils. But I'm not willing to submit one of those stories to the infamous slush, then possibly wait a year to find out my voice still isn't there yet.

Maybe it isn't there yet for that line, but I have other options. And if I continue to try to poke, prod and twist my voice into what I think will finally get me published, regardless of the outcome, I'm shortchanging myself.

2/05/2009

None of the writing variety, but...I started the arduous task of organizing my email folders. Only 673 emails left to label, sort, respond to or delete. I actually sorted/deleted about 60 tonight, so that is real progress. (I can hear Tara laughing.)

2/04/2009

First, the good news. I spent some time editing VT last night after I posted. The bad? I spent way longer than 45 minutes on the internet today. When I'm tired, all my willpower goes out the window. Plus, I have trouble modifying my behavior without taking an "all or nothing" approach. The minute I allow myself a little leeway, next thing I know I'm off track. Tonight my main goal is getting some sleep, so that I can start accomplishing this week's goals. Sheesh!

And now for my much belated 6 Things That Make Me Happy list. I was tagged by my good friend Helen Hardt a couple weeks ago, and I've finally gotten around to posting my answers.

1) My family and friends2) Sleeping in! (if I had someone to play under the covers with, that would be even better...)3) Watching SU men's basketball...especially when we're winning!4) Curling up with a book, preferably Jeaniene Frost's or JD Robb's latest5) Writing (on the good days...on the bad, well, that's for another list, LOL)6) Savoring a hot cup of coffee on a cold night

If you'd like to play along, post your own list on your blog. I'm off to watch the SU game. We neeeeed to win! ;)

2/03/2009

I really hate posting that I've made no progress today, but it can't be helped. Unfortunately, the next couple days don't look promising, either. Huge rush job at the day job has sapped my energy - and my ability to type. I'm still committed to meeting this week's goals. Just need to find some time to do so. ;)

2/02/2009

I went out to dinner with a friend tonight, but luckily enough, I did manage to do some outlining of VT right up to the last scene. Polished synopsis here I come! :) I also spent just 45 minutes online, but man, Mondays are tough!

2/01/2009

In spite of myself, I managed to make about half my goals this week. I wrote/revised another 17.5 pgs of VT, met my internet challenge, and did some reading for pleasure. The goals I didn't meet I'm resolving to do this week.

This week's goals:

-Write/revise another 20 pages of VT-Repeat my internet challenge Mon-Thurs. (only 45 mins. a day, after that day's writing work is done)-To finally finish my 2 pg. VT synopsis! (maybe the third time I've pledged to do this will be the charm, LOL)